Tata Elxsi, a global design company that blends technology, creativity, and engineering, has won this year’s iF Design Awards, a world-renowned prize for design excellence. Tata Elxsi won this award for its exceptional work delivered for Kochi Metro Rail, in the ‘service design’ discipline.

Tata Elxsi designed the comprehensive passenger experience design for Kochi Metro to help them develop India’s first seamless integrated transport system. Dating back to 1953, the iF Design Awards is an international design competition organized by Germany’s oldest independent design organisation, Hannover-based iF International Forum Design GmbH. This year, a total of 5,500 entries were submitted from 59 countries. An expert 58-member jury, made up of independent experts in industry, design and architecture from all over the world adjudged the winners.

The prestigious iF Design Award is widely seen as among the top three global design awards along with the Reddot Design Award and IDEA (International Design Excellence Award).

Narendra Ghate, chief designer – service design, Tata Elxsi, commented, “This award is a testament to Tata Elxsi’s multi-disciplinary design team for creating a world class integrated transport system. We have uniquely translated Kochi Metro’s vision‚ Connect to Prosper‘ into a seamless and convenient passenger experience, establishing ourselves as a global design leader in public transportation.”

As the principal passenger experience design consultants to Kochi Metro, Tata Elxsi was commissioned with the responsibility to:

• Develop the customer experience, design a seamless customer journey to build signage, way-finding, built space experience, para-transit systems, designing the user friendly spaces, enticing interiors, and information design for hassle free travel.
• Integrate mobility and digital experiences by linking various modes of transport like cycle, water metro, bus and taxis to provide a unified experience through various digital touchpoints.
• Develop a unified brand identity – In association with Brash Brands, Tata Elxsi created a consistent brand identity and translated the theme ‘Connect to Prosper’ to reflect the spirit of Kochi through the design solutions across all platforms from print collaterals to built space.
• Design a cohesive system to encourage commuters to travel by the integrated public transport.

“Tata Elxsi has helped us build one of the most unique passenger experience designs for our integrated transport system. The entire project has taken us a step closer to the dream of translating Kochi into a smart city. We must applaud the design and creative team at Tata Elxsi for helping us realize our dreams through the implementation of design based technology,” said, Elias George, MD, Kochi Metro Rail.

The iF Design Awards night is scheduled to take place on 10 March 2017, at BMW Welt in Munich, Germany. Tata Elxsi’s award winning work will also be exhibited in the city center of Hamburg, where it will be presented to an audience with a special interest in design and architecture.